By JONAS TERRADO
San Miguel Alab Pilipinas coach Jimmy Alapag believes his team can play a lot better even after beating the Saigon Heat, 110-100, for the third straight time in as many games to inch closer to earning a semis berth in the ASEAN Basketball League Sunday night at The Arena in San Juan.
Alab drew big games from Ray Parks Jr., world imports Justin Brownlee and Renaldo Balkman and scrappy Lawrence Domingo while Pamboy Raymundo, Paolo Javelona and Dondon Hontiveros provided quality minutes in Game 1 of their quarterfinal series.
Alapag, however, was hardly satisfied with the victory, especially after allowing Saigon to reach the century mark and trim a 22-point gap in the fourth quarter.
Saigon went to Manila with only eight players in uniform, with American center Maxie Esho, who led all scorers with 42 points, Thai-American Moses Morgan, Jamaican guard Akeem Scott and Fil-American Mikey Williams logging heavy minutes.
“We gave up a hundred points to four guys, that falls on me. We have to be sharper both offensively and defensively,” Alapag said as quoted by the ABL website. “We had the game in hand in a lot of instances but let them get back into it, turnover, bad fouls. The only advantage is we won the first game.”
